Kitchen Kapers

I was staring out my window at the ever present blanket of snow last week, when I began craving something sweet, fresh, light. Fruit. But summer and the bustling farmers’ markets bursting with local fruits felt totally out of reach on this miserable day. Then I thought about the one fruit that is practically gauranteed to be hanging around my kitchen during the winter. Bananas! So I found a great recipe for Sky High Caramel Banana Cake, courtesy of Kaiser. This, of course, eliminated the “light” part of my craving, but, along with fruit, swimsuit season also thankfully feels out of reach…

Sky High Caramel Banana Cake from Kaiser
Ingredients:
Cake:

• 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 14 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 4 large egges
• 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (approximately 6)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Frosting:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 6 Tablespoons cold water
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 5-6 firm bananas
• 1 1/2 cups toasted pecans, chopped
• 12 1/4 ounces caramel ice cream topping

Directions:
Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Butter two 9″ round cake pans.
3. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. With a mixer at low speed, combine the dry ingredients with butter, one tablesppon at a time; add eggs and 1 cup of mashed bananas. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add remaining mashed bananas and vanilla; beat for 1 minute. Stir in pecans.
4. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake 25-30 minutes or utnil tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean and cake is beginning to pull away from sides of the pan. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove to cool completely on wire racks.

Filling:

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over cold water to soften. Scald 1/4 cup of the cream and pour over softened gelatin, stirring until dissolved. Set aside until room temperature. Whip remaining cream until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup of caramel ice cream topping and cream-gelatin mixture and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Cut each cake into two layers.
2. Fill between the layers: spread a thin layer of remaining cream topping on top of cake; sprinkle 1/3 cup of nuts on top of topping; cover entirely with sliced bananas; cover with cream. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining cream. Press remaining nuts into cream at bottom edge. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

It was super easy to whip up this batter with my Kitchen-Aid Mixer. I did eliminate the pecans in the batter since I was baking this for my 7 and 5-year-old niece and nephew. This was tough since I love all kinds of nuts, and thought that walnuts or perhaps even almonds would be a great addition. The kitchen began to fill with the scent of the spices and bananas, and really did appear to help alleviate my cabin fever doldrums. Cake can definitely do that to you. The cake came out beautifully, and yes, very high! I chose not to use the frosting from the recipe since I did not have gelatin. Three separate recipes later, I finally came up with the frosting I desired. Thick and billowy, with just a touch of caramel. I must admit that I was a little lazy about decorating the cake, as it was 11 p.m. and I did not have any extra frosting on hand for the piping that I had planned. I will eventually be purchasing a revolving cake stand, which will hopefully help me to perfect my future creations. But that’s the great thing about baking for kids. Throw on some sliced bananas, dot with pecans, which they (at least the ones I know) will certainly pick off anyway, and you will be a creative genius!